28,014 / 50,000 (55.0%)

First:

Jacques’s hand-paws shook as he picked up the shoe and brought it to his nose.

Last:

Nausea twisted her, pulling the migraine through her body. “I have to go.”

2476 words today

Iron Council by China Mieville — mini-review

You know. I really wanted to like this and just didn’t. While it is undeniably well-written, I felt like I was slogging through it. It’s unremittingly bleak and yet, I didn’t care about any of the characters. They get killed off right and left and I never cared. The only character that effected me was Ori and yet, when he died I was neither surprised nor moved.

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi — mini review

I really enjoyed this and read it in pretty much one sitting. It’s rollicking good fun and just plain silly, but also manages to touch on “issues.” I cried twice, which is pretty good for a comedy.

My only issue with it was a plot issue which will only bother a few people. There’s a plot point revolving around making a latex life-mask, but no one in the industry does this. Everyone uses alginate. Even though I had to manually engage that bit of willing suspension of disbelief, I still enjoyed this very much.

Dad, I think you’d like this one.

As you might recall, last year I decided to stop writing Good Housekeeping during NaNoWriMo after two weeks and 25,000 words. I stopped because we were moving to Iceland and decided that it would make me crazy to get the wordcount done, plus pack, plus go to Woodthrush Woods for the holidays. At the time, I was planning on writing another 25,000 words in two weeks in January. I did not even crack the novel open.

Today, I am going to start again. Let this stand as a notice for my own mini-NaNoWri. I reviewed my chapter outline, story arc, and reread the pages that I’ve written.To finish the remaining 24,457 words of the NaNo challenge, I have until September 20. Wish me luck.